COMMUNITY UPDATE – August 10, 2015
Dear Alta Plaza Park Community Members,
We have a few items to bring to your attention today.
We have been advised by San Francisco Recreation and Park Department (SFRPD) of further delays in the Historic Resources Evaluation (HRE) and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process for the Master Plan. The delays should not affect the timeline for construction of the SFRPD/PUC North Side Water Conservation Project or replacement of the pathways funded by Supervisor Mark Farrell's add-back funds. The delays will, however, affect the presentation of the Master Plan to the SFRPD Commission for approval. The projected timing for the presentation is now March - April, 2016.
To avoid construction delays, SFRPD has strategically reorganized the sequence of activities and anticipates that the work will still begin mid-2016 and be completed in early 2017. In order to accomplish this, development of the construction documents will overlap with the HRE/CEQA process and both should be completed simultaneously.
We received an update from San Francisco Parks Alliance (SFPA) that discusses the results of a research brief, Still Seeking Green, which found that the lack of funding for the City's parks over the past 15 years has significantly affected the quality and maintenance of our parks. SFPA and Supervisor Mark Farrell are working to address this massive problem that has contributed to the infrastructure and maintenance decline of Alta Plaza Park. You can find the article and the research results at this link:
http://sfpa.convio.net/site/MessageViewer?em_id=1581.0&dlv_id=5601&pgwrap=n
Within the SFPA update is a PARK PRIORITIES SURVEY. Please take the time to participate in this survey to inform SFPA and Supervisor Farrell what park services are most important to you. The link to the survey is:
We will be meeting with SFRPD shortly to identify the specific pathways to be replaced within our add-back fund budget of $1,043,828. We are approximately $500,000 short of funds to cover the replacement of ALL the pathways in the park and continue to pursue resources to accomplish this hugely significant goal.
As mentioned in our last update, the installation of the south side French drains scheduled for this Fall is still on track. Additionally, we will be meeting with SFRPD to determine the timing for installing replacement grass for the one terrace of the no-mow to be funded by SFRPD.
Our thanks go out to our terrific park community for your patience and continued support with this process.
As always, please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.
Regards,
Janet Gamble and Anita Denz
Friends of Alta Plaza Park
P.S. Did everyone see the new tennis court wind screens? Thank you SFRPD Park Service Area Manager Zack Taylor!